Officials in the South Korean government are taking the threat seriously. However, they are confident in the ability of KHNP and all of the nation’s other 23 atomic plants to withstand any type of attack.

Commenting on the incident, Chung Yang-ho, Deputy Energy Minister for South Korea, said, “It’s our judgment that the control system itself is designed in such a way and there is no risk whatsoever.”

In addition to promising a Christmas Day attack, the hackers also threatened to release additional plant documents if KHNP does not comply.

Some suspect that the threats made against KHNP may in some way be related to recent threats made by North Korea in response to the United States’ decision to not accept its proposal for a joint probe into the Sony hack.

“Our toughest counteraction will be boldly taken against the White House, the Pentagon and the whole U.S. mainland, the cesspool of terrorism, by far surpassing the ‘symmetric counteraction’ declared by Obama,” the North Korean Commission’s Policy Department said in a statement.